Few kindergartners hold synthetic (18%) or scientific (13%) models of the day and night cycle despite no formal instruction¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2020: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Eight children (18%) held synthetic models (orbit model and rotation + distance model) and six children (13%) held the scientific earth's-rotation model. → Saçkes 2015

Evidence¶

Saçkes 2015¶

Saçkes, M. (2015). Kindergartners' Mental Models of the Day and Night Cycle: Implications for Instructional Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 15(4), 997-1006. https://doi.org/10.12738/estp.2015.4.2741

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

From the same descriptive interview study's results: "Eight children (18%) held synthetic models of the day and night cycle" (four orbit, four rotation + distance), and separately "A total of six children (three boys and three girls, 13%) held a scientific model." Teachers reported no classroom activities targeting the day and night cycle.

"Eight children (18%) held synthetic models of the day and night cycle."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The majority (63%) of kindergartners hold naïve mental models of the day and night cycle, with the distance model the most common — related
• Kindergartners struggle to give verbal causal explanations, but model-based tasks let most of them express causal ideas — related
• Boys and girls do not differ in the type of mental models of the day and night cycle they hold — related